Minimum

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X paired with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti delivers a highly variable experience in Minimum, a 2014 Third-Person Shooter. The data shows a combo that can handle 1080p gaming with high refresh rates at lower settings but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra. The benchmark results indicate a system where the GPU is the primary limiting factor at higher resolutions, while the 8-core CPU provides ample headroom at lower settings.

FAQ

*Q: What is the overall rank of this CPU and GPU combo in the benchmark database for Minimum?*

A: This combination ranks 1497 out of 1733 tested combos for this specific game, placing it in the lower percentile of all systems tested.

Q: How does the Ryzen 7 3700X compare to its nearest rival, the Intel Core i5-12600?

A: The Ryzen 7 3700X has an average benchmark score of 28631, which is 0.1% lower than the Intel Core i5-12600's average score of 28654. This makes the two processors effectively equivalent in overall synthetic performance.

Q: What is the GPU's performance percentile relative to all other graphics cards?

A: The GTX 1660 Ti sits at the 55th percentile when compared to all GPUs, indicating it performs better than a majority of cards but is not a high-end part. Its closest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 570X, is only 0.4% faster in average benchmark score.

Q: What is the peak average frame rate achievable at 1080p?

A: The highest average frame rate recorded is 131.6 FPS, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only setting where the combo exceeds the 120 FPS mark.

Q: Is there a significant performance drop between Medium and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: Yes, the data shows a substantial drop. At 2560x1440, the average frame rate falls from 63.5 FPS on Medium settings to 42 FPS on Ultra settings, a decrease of over 33%.

Q: What is the GPU's memory configuration and bandwidth?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus, providing a memory bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s.

How This Combo Ranks

The combination of the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti occupies a modest position in the overall ranking for Minimum, coming in at rank 1497 out of 1733 tested configurations. This places it in the bottom 15% of systems, a ranking that is heavily influenced by the GPU's limits at high resolutions and settings. The processor itself is a strong performer, holding an 85th percentile ranking against all CPUs, which suggests the CPU is not the bottleneck in most scenarios.

The CPU's average benchmark score of 28631 places it in a tight pack with its nearest rivals. It sits just 0.1% behind the Intel Core i5-12600 and the Intel Core i5-12600H, which score 28654 and 28666 respectively. Conversely, it is a hair ahead of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600XT and the AMD EPYC 7203P, which score 28591 and 28583, representing a 0.1% and 0.2% advantage for the 3700X. This suggests that the Ryzen 7 3700X provides compute performance that is squarely in the mid-range, offering a solid foundation that is not the limiting factor in this pairing.

On the graphics side, the GTX 1660 Ti's 55th percentile ranking against all GPUs and its average score of 13925 tell a different story. It narrowly outperforms the NVIDIA Tesla K10 by 0.7% but trails the AMD Radeon RX 570X by 0.4%. The GPU's position, combined with the measured frame rates, indicates that the graphics card is the component dictating the combo's overall rank. While the CPU is capable of feeding the GPU at lower resolutions, the GPU's raw rendering power caps performance as resolution and settings increase, dragging the entire combo down the rankings.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is the decisive component in this pairing, and its specifications reveal why it struggles at higher demands. The GPU is built on the Turing architecture and features 1536 shading units, 96 texture mapping units, and 48 render output units. It operates at a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1770 MHz. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, while adequate for many titles, is paired with a 192-bit bus that yields a bandwidth of 288.0 GB/s. This memory configuration is a key factor when analyzing performance at high resolutions, where bandwidth demands increase significantly.

The GPU's compute capabilities are rated at 5.437 TFLOPS for FP32 operations. This raw compute power is a limiting factor in Minimum's more demanding settings. The data shows a clear correlation between the GPU's workload and the frame rate. For instance, at 4K, the average frame rate drops from 47.4 FPS at Low settings to 21.2 FPS at Ultra settings. This 26.2 FPS difference is a direct consequence of the increased pixel shading and texture work required at Ultra, which overwhelms the GPU's 5.437 TFLOPS capacity.

The relationship between the GPU's VRAM and the game's settings is also evident. While the 6 GB frame buffer is not exhausted at 1080p, the substantial frame rate drops at 4K suggest that the GPU is not only limited by compute power but also by memory bandwidth. The 288.0 GB/s bandwidth becomes a bottleneck when the GPU is required to fetch and process large amounts of texture data at higher resolutions. The result is that the GTX 1660 Ti is the primary constraint on the system's performance, with the Ryzen 7 3700X's 8 cores and 16 threads remaining largely underutilized in this title.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at the combo's performance across three resolutions and four settings levels. At 1920x1080, the combo shows its strength. With Low settings, the average frame rate is 131.6 FPS, which is more than double the 63.5 FPS achieved at Ultra settings. The progression is 131.6 FPS → 100.4 FPS (Medium) → 87.5 FPS (High) → 63.5 FPS (Ultra). This indicates that at 1080p, the system can deliver smooth gameplay, though even here, the jump from Low to Ultra reduces performance by over half.

Moving to 2560x1440, the frame rates begin to show strain. The average FPS at Low settings is 86.5, which drops to 63.5 on Medium and 57.6 on High. The most demanding setting, Ultra, yields an average of just 42 FPS. This represents a 51.4% reduction in performance from Low to Ultra at this resolution. The data shows that 1440p is the threshold where the GTX 1660 Ti starts to become a limiting factor, as the gap between High and Ultra settings narrows, suggesting the GPU is running out of headroom.

At 3840x2160, the combo's limitations are fully exposed. The average frame rate at Low settings is 47.4 FPS, which is just barely playable. However, performance degrades quickly with higher settings. Medium settings produce an average of 33 FPS, High settings yield 33.2 FPS, and Ultra settings drop to a mere 21.2 FPS. The similarity between Medium (33 FPS) and High (33.2 FPS) scores is notable, suggesting that the GPU is saturated and additional graphical features have little impact on the frame rate. These results clearly show that 4K gaming is not a viable option for this combo, except at the lowest settings.

Resolution Scaling

The resolution scaling data reveals a classic GPU-bound scenario. The most telling comparison is the performance drop from 1080p to 4K at the same settings. At Low settings, the average FPS falls from 131.6 at 1080p to 47.4 at 4K, a 64% reduction. This massive drop indicates that the GPU is struggling to fill the 4x increase in pixel count. The scaling is less severe but still significant at Ultra settings, where the frame rate drops from 63.5 FPS at 1080p to 21.2 FPS at 4K, a 66.6% reduction.

The pattern of scaling strongly suggests that the limiting component is the GTX 1660 Ti. If the CPU were the bottleneck, the frame rate would not drop as dramatically when resolution increases, as the CPU's workload remains relatively constant. Instead, the observed drops are consistent with a GPU that is completely saturated. The Ryzen 7 3700X, with its 16 threads and high single-thread performance scores (2694 in Cinebench R23), is more than capable of feeding the GPU at 1080p. The data shows that at 1080p Low, the system achieves 131.6 FPS, a figure that would require significant CPU resources, yet the system still manages to deliver it. This proves the CPU has headroom.

As the resolution increases to 1440p and then 4K, the GPU's fill rate and shading capacity become the sole determinants of performance. The frame rate at 4K Low (47.4 FPS) is very close to the frame rate at 1440p Ultra (42 FPS). This convergence indicates that the GPU is hitting a hard performance ceiling. The fact that the FPS at 4K Medium (33 FPS) and 4K High (33.2 FPS) are nearly identical further confirms that the GPU has reached its absolute limit. The system is entirely GPU-bound at these settings, and the data shows that the GTX 1660 Ti's 5.437 TFLOPS of compute power is insufficient for high-fidelity gaming above 1080p.